Assign a variable to an opened Excel workbook from Access

Question

I am working on an Access database with VBA, which needs to obtain data from an Excel workbook.

I need to assign a variable to the open book (set g_xl =????) without opening another Excel instance (appoint to opened workbook).

Sub AssignVariableToExcelApplication()
    Dim g_xl As Excel.Application
    Dim strComputer As String
    Dim objWMIService As Object
    Dim colitems As Object
    Dim objitem As Object

    strComputer = "."
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
    Set colitems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process", , 48)

    Dim row As Integer
    row = 1
    For Each objitem In colitems
        If objitem.Name = "EXCEL.EXE" Then
            Debug.Print objitem.ProcessID & vbCrLf & _
                        objitem.Name & vbCrLf & _
                        objitem.Caption & vbCrLf & _
                        objitem.CommandLine & vbCrLf & _
                        objitem.ExecutablePath

            'This is the question
            'Set g_xl = objitem ?????? (I need that g_xl appoints to objitem)
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Answer 1

You don't need any of this, only the full path to the Excel file. Then GetObject() can get a reference to the open workbook.

sPath = "C:\my\path\myWorkbook.xlsx"
Set wb = GetObject(sPath)
' Demo
Debug.Print wb.Sheets(1).Cells(1,1).Value
' If you need the Application
Set g_xl = wb.Application

This will only start a new Excel instance, if the file isn't open.

Answer 2

With g_xl as type Excel.Application , that commented line is going to be

Set g_xl = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

or

Set g_xl = GetObject("Excel.Application")

The latter will hook up with an existing Excel.Application which is what I think you're trying to do. It will create a new instance if an existing one isn't found.